Saturday afternoon Penn State exactly what they should do. They came out against an inferior opponent and smothered them. At no point did it feel like Kent State had life in this game.
Penn State outgained Kent State by 651 yards, they had 40 first downs to Kent State's 6 and were 8/10 on third down while the Golden Flashes were a woeful 1/11. Let's get into some deep dive takeaways from Penn State's dominance of Kent State to cap off their non-conference slate.
JOIN TODAY AND GET 30 DAYS FREE! | THE LIONS DEN FORUM | PENN STATE FOOTBALL 2025 RECRUITING CLASS | PENN STATE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
A Historic Performance
Despite a bit of a slow start, it was a historic offensive performance for the Nittany Lions. Penn State's offense racked up a single-game school record 718 yards. This offensive output broke the previous single-game school record of 711 yards which was set in an 82-0 victory over Susquehanna in 1926.
This offense performance comes with the caveat that Kent State very well may be the worst team in the FBS. That said, Penn State did what a College Football Playoff contender *should* do against a team this poor, and that is something Penn State did not do despite recording blowout victories against Delaware and Umass last season.
This game just felt different from last season's aforementioned non-conference blowouts of Delaware and Umass. Drew Allar was in much better control of the offense, while also looking vastly more confident. The wide receiver play was also better than it was at any point last season outside of the West Virginia game, more on that later.
Again, Penn State did what you would want to see a team with their expectations do against a team like Kent State. While that may seem like a given, it is still something that should be complimented.
Multiple Wide Receivers Deliver Needed Performance
Trey Wallace looked like a budding WR1 against West Virginia, but due to a Drew Shelton holding call negating his lone reception was kept out of the box score against Bowling Green. Omari Evans flashed some good things in each of those victories. But Penn State still needed the wide receiver room as a whole delivering a more well rounded performance, which happened against Kent State.
Wallace returned to the box score with 3 receptions for 29 yards. Evans had the best game of his collegiate career with 4 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. Liam Clifford had 3 receptions for 64 yards, his first career touchdown, and he rushed for 12 yards.
Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming also made his first real impact as a Nittany Lion. Entering the day with just a 3-yard reception on the season, Fleming had a pair of catches for 60 yards. This included a 39-yard reception right before halftime to help set up an Allar rushing touchdown.
Moving forward, if Penn State can continue to get this type of performance from their wide receivers it will be a massive boost for Allar, the passing game, and the offense. This also came with Kaden Saunders, who should still be able to make an impact, not quite 100%. Hopefully this game proves to be a confidence builder for the wide receiver room.
Two Young Defenders Shine
When facing a far inferior opponent one of the aspects of the game that coaches, players, and fans alike look forward to is seeing young players get an opportunity when the game gets out of hand. On Saturday afternoon, more than one young Nittany Lion defender took advantage of these opportunities.
Defensive end Max Granville should be a senior in high school, but you never would have guessed it watching his performance against the Golden Flashes. Granville showed an explosive first step and get off at defensive end. He routinely beat the offensive tackle across from him, and forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by Antoine Belgrave-Shorter only to be called back and ruled an incomplete pass following a review.
Granville has a very bright future at Penn State and that was on full display during his first collegiate action.
True freshman linebacker Anthony Speca also flashed for Tom Allen's defense. Thrust into a bigger than anticipated role following an injury to Dom DeLuca, Speca found himself on the field while the first-team defense was still out there and did not look out of place.
Speca looked comfortable and confident. He read plays well and displayed a high football IQ on his way to a team-leading 5 tackles in the victory. Speca is still a year or two away form being a starter for the Nittany Lions, but the Pittsburgh Central Catholic product did some nice things on Saturday afternoon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
